Qobuz vs Airplay

You know at the end of the day it all sounds good. My baseline is driving in the middle of the California desert with my VW stock radio and enjoying a weak signal of country music. I spend most of my time enjoying the music than being a critical listener. You can call me a lowlife audiophile with this attitude and thats okay. My time on this planet is limited so I gotta spend it wisely. My systems are balanced with vinyl, cd and streaming so comparing is on equal footing. Do compare but not often. As I said before I use you Qubuz, Tidal and Apple Music.

Just a reminder Apple Music needs to be tweaked to get to Hi-Res Lossless 24-bit/192kHz. ApplePlay and Bluetooth will not get you there. Need cabling to DAC

**It’s the bad recordings, poor engineering, gross compression and in the case of vinyl bad pressings that get to me. That I may not tolerate. My system will highlight the bad in seconds. Needs to be a compelling reason to continue.  Like Robert Johnson and older Louis Armstrong recordings.

I listen to Tidal in the car with AirPlay. Just have not set up Qubuz yet. 

Appreciate the discussion.

@jond  Simaudio has a streaming app called Mind (Mind 2 being the latest version) which is built into the 390 and newer North series.  The Mind app is available on IOS and Android.  My listening to Qobuz was using IOS on IPhone to the Sim.  My listening to Apple Music was using IPhone over Airplay (also built into the Sim).  

Simaudio advised me Mind Qobuz > Airplay (Apple Music) > Bluetoooth.  I did go deep into the apple settings at some point to use highest available resolution, though this may be down converted via airplay as Darko notes.  Maybe my hearing is going from all the concerts but to me the difference between Mind Qobuz and Airplay was not night and day.

I primarily use Physical Media, CDs or higher resolution silver disc.  I either play the disc or the ripped copy from my server.  I use Apple Music because my non audiophile wife wants to use it.  Qobuz screwed me on a subscription in the past so I don’t use them any more for about 3 years now.  I use streaming services to audition a disc and if I like it I purchase it.  
  I recognize that Apple Music isn’t as good as Qobuz sonically but its catalog is extensive and it works for my purposes.  So how to maximize the sound? I’ve done all the settings changes as suggested up thread and as someone else noted, AirPlay simply tops out at slightly below CD quality.  I am not complaining; I was just commenting for the benefit of the OP.

  Interestingly if you play a ‘Library’ selection from Apple Music on Apple TV (I have 2 ATVs in my mid fi HT systems), it will play in full Hi Rez, 24/192, if available, but only on ATV.  I’ve thought about adding an ATV to my 2 channel system for this reason but it would require a monitor change and ATVs are buggy little bastards so I’m not interested 
 

Think if you are streaming from an Apple product that is directly connected it will sound far better over Airplay. 

In my car, there is almost no difference between, Tidal, Apple, and Spotify. It's not a revealing system. On my 2ch system, all 3 sound very different. Tidal is best but only when using Tidal Connect, then Apple, then Spotify. 

How you are listening, and using the service, vastly affects the sound quality. Anything running native on the streamer/dac will sound vastly better over any other method.